Film: Dope Sick Love

I watched this film last night and really enjoyed it. My mother watched it with me and I think it opened her eyes a little. Anyone else see it?

Dope Sick Love

HBO has a lot of really good documentaries, this was one of them. It's one of those little slices of reality that makes you uncomfortable but is so damn entertaining. I laughed some times, I know I shouldn't have been, but I did. Mostly because I can't imagine being in such a state of addiction that the things those people put up with day-to-day would be worth it or even remotely acceptable. But then again, I've never been a heroin addict. It hardly seems cool or glorious when put into the perspective of street level addicts.

Watching 2 couples, one sponsored by rich family and the other breaking up when one doesn't go through on their promise to get into detox. Then the one gets out of detox, alone, and right back in some unlocked doorway smoking crack.

Humorous in a dark way, frightening as well. Eye opening and honest.

I wish it had been a bit longer. When Happy Crackhead Couple Number 1 finally had their own apartment and her father bought them all that stuff, the new tv, xbox, etc...me and my roomate just looked at each other and laughed thinking "How long until all that is pawned?".

I saw this the other night and it was very interesting. I can't imagine ever letting myself fall that deep into drug use. I had a little trouble watching as they were IV'ing some of the drugs. I'm a little weak around needles

btw, I thought it was so funny when the chick pretended to be a cop to steal people's money Some people are so gullible, I would've never fallen for that.

Good documentary overall.

Man they really scrape the bottom of the barrel for these things. The whole time I was watching it I was reminded of a joke by the late great Bill Hicks.

Strung Out Junkie: I lost my family, my house, my job, my car. Don’t do drugs!
Bill: Well fuck, I’m certainly not gonna do them with you

Pure_XTC said:

btw, I thought it was so funny when the chick pretended to be a cop to steal people's money Some people are so gullible, I would've never fallen for that.

Click to expand...

Really, not too many cops come complete with authentic track marks.

I thought it was great. I loved the part where the guy lost his dope, and how happy he was when he found it. Some of the stuff made me cringe, like the guy washing his rigs off in the toilet, and the guy injecting into the same spot over and over. There were also some pretty heroic crack hits taken throughout this movie. I could almost smell it at times

It did a good job of capturing what that life is like. It felt like i was watching myself at times. It was pretty funny how at the end the girl was with her dad and was all "yeah you have so much time to play video games when youre not getting high HAHAHAHA" and it was such an obvious poorly told lie, and then they show her smoking crack with all her new stuff around her. Her father must be such a gullible dipshit.

one part that didnt make sense to me was when the older woman obviously OD'd on dope, and the next morning she didnt understand why she couldnt remember what happened and why she was all fucked up. Any serious heroin addict would know that they had OD'd as soon as they woke up. I guess she was more into crack.

It was making me almost feel dopesick to watch them shoot up.

It didnt make any sense why that guy was cleaning his works in the toilet when he had a bottle of clean water right there though.

I remember always thinking i had lost a bag of dope just like in that one scene, and pulling all the shit out of my pocket and ripping apart cigarette packs and shit freaking out trying to find it. And i also identified with the going into stairwells and bathrooms and alleys to get high.

I was surpised to see how many people who lived in the city fell for that womans shitty scams though. They just handed over their money to her and were like "ok ill be waiting here for you to come back". I thought new yorkers were supposed to be all tough and street-wise. Those people were fucking stupid.

I thought it was going to be more about heroin and less about crack though. There was far too much crack smoking and not nearly enough dope shooting and nodding out on park benches.

I guess they had hidden cameras to film it, I cant imagine them walking around and getting high and keeping a low profile with a guy following them around with a camera. Im also surprised that they werent hitting the cameraman up for money and bugging the shit out of him instead of digging through trash cans while some guy who obviously has money is following you around filming you.

i have alot more to say but ive said too much already.....

EDIT: oh yeah i forgot to mention that the couple who were being bankrolled by the girls rich daddy seemed like they had alot less pain and bad shit happening and less degredation en toto because they had money coming in, so they didnt have to steal and shit to afford the high prices that come with "black market" goods like drugs. They also didnt have to put themselves at as great a risk because they were able to stay off the streets. I thought that kind of shed light of the fact that alot of the awfulness that comes along with drug addiction is a consequence of drug prohibition, as legalization would remove all those dangerous criminal elements from what is essentially a public health/social problem.

^

this post made me laugh , you being serious ?

yes

i fail to see the humor

Yea I was wondering about the camera situation also, when they were shoplifitng and such. Decent doc. on struggles of addiction. I couldnt watch that show sober and not fiends like a motherfucker, I had plenty of dope and nod'd in and out of the show, I'll have to re-watch it.

I should make a movie, put these hacks to shame, lol j/k, maybee

Ill bet there's hours of footage of them begging the cameraman for money. I'll bet they gave it to them on ocasion. I thought it was pretty ballzy of the filmakers. Bring a newbie to the ghetto to cop and they freak out. This crew was right there with while they smoked crack in public. They could have goten in trouble for that.

I could just relate to these people way too much and had to get some heroin and crack right away and then I finished watching it.

[edit - finished watching, updating this post]

I've only watched roughly the first half so far, but I agree with Shucklak, I'm disappointed that the subjects seem to be more generic junkies, what with their crack use - rather than diehard opiate fiends.

I've always worked damn hard to support my addictions. I may scrounge for food, but I never robbed anyone or resorted to homosexual prostitution (talk about graphic!), so I can't find much sympathy for the couples in this film (except Matt, that guy was cool)
I will admit, Michelle's prostitution scam was pretty catchy.

I recognize that it is meant to be a gritty documentary (and the graphic scenes certainly make it so), but a bit of background info might have been nice ... where they started at, how they met, how they got to living on the streets. Also, 18 months is a long time, and that can't all be captured in 90 minutes. The seasons kept changing rapidly, and the subjects kept changing clothes and drinking Starbucks .. wtf? How does that happen if you're living on the streets?
They never showed them scoring either, which annoyed me a bit.

But it was a damn good look at how rough living on the streets can be. I know I could make it no prob (and have a bit in the past), but its not something I ever want to have to do full-time. Managing multiple addictions on top of it multiplies the struggle a hundred times over. I felt the pain every time it showed them shooting up.

I'm helping distribute this if anyone wants to see it but has no access.

well, th producer said that another couple they were filiming(one that wasnt shown in the docu) was walking around all day hustlig but UNABLE to get any cash, and after 10 or so hours of filming this, the junky couple got pissed and told the cameraman that it was HIS fault they couldnt hustle successfuly..the camerguy felt bad/annoyed so he gave them $20 and packed his shit up, and moved to a different couple..

what always gets me is WHY do addicts let a film crew film their every move,hstlin, copping, slamming etc etc..i mean, they must realize the lowlife shit they do isnt gonna make them look too classy, especially if they someday get CLEAN and rewatch it....UUGGGHH..i wonder if the couples make money or get their rehab paid by this il??i know how i am when im dopesick, and there is no way a cameradude is gonna be around me at that point...no way...im a private drug user...lol...

btw, hasanyone seen ROCK BOTTOM:FROM HELL TO REDEMPTION???its a documentary that shows JASON MEWES(kevin smith flicks) kicking his dope habit...heard its supposed to come out on HBO pretty soon...

rate this movie

alasdair

Tongue said:

btw, hasanyone seen ROCK BOTTOM:FROM HELL TO REDEMPTION???its a documentary that shows JASON MEWES(kevin smith flicks) kicking his dope habit...heard its supposed to come out on HBO pretty soon...

Click to expand...

i heard about the supposed film a long while back, and the info was the same (it would be released shortly on hbo). im doubtful if this will ever come out. i would like to know more info on it too though.

Well it gets My 5 stars. I think it's a very interesting show.

Fourteen dead bodies and they couldn't find a murder weapon so the had to let her go... how many people you killed and gotten away with it!

Matt was a funny dude... but i coulda done without watching him getting blown by that mustached queer.

It was really interesting. They were pretty clever in finding sneaky ways to raise money to support their addictions. I coudn't help but feel a little sad for them though :-/